"Mira, you're so lucky..." sighed Lucy as she once again gazed longingly at the elegant diamond wedding band adorning Mirajane's left ring finger. It was absolutely stunning; the perfect size to complement her already gorgeously graceful hands. When she brought those fingers up to cup her face like she was doing then, the diamond seemed to immaculately match the bright sparkle in her eye. Adding that to the blush currently staining her cheeks, she was the ultimate vision of newlywed happiness.
"Of course she is. She finally got the guy she's been waiting for," Levy sighed, echoing Lucy's sentiment. Mira had just gotten back from her honeymoon with Laxus, and the girls of Fairy Tail had finally finished hounding her for details. All with drinks in hand, Cana, Lucy, Levy, Erza, Juvia, Lisanna, Wendy, Carla, and Evergreen surrounded the table at the center of the main hall. As the only one of their comrades they had seen married, Mirajane seemed to them a wealth of information to be used in their own pitiful love lives.
"AND he had the balls to actually put a ring on it," snorted Cana as the other girls giggled.
"Unlike some people we know," Lucy couldn't help but grumble, earning hums of agreement from around her. Slumping down to table level to set her chin on top of her arms, Lucy stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "Those boys are lucky we kicked them out today so we could talk to Mira, or they'd be getting a big, fat earful right about now."
"Men have been and will always be pig-headed idiots," added Carla in her usual huffy manner. "I don't know why we even bother."
Mirajane laughed, "Because you love those idiots." All the girls with certain mages on their mind averted their eyes, blushing. They couldn't argue with that one.
After a beat of silence, Juvia burst into loud sobs. "Juvia doesn't understand why Gray-sama isn't in love with Juvia anymore!" Everyone seemed a little shocked by her outburst-Wendy and Lucy immediately consoling the bluenette between them, attempting to get her calmed down.
"Juvia, Gray still loves you! He really does!" Wendy piped up.
"We all know it! He couldn't love anyone more than you. Ever," added Lucy. "He's just... not thinking straight right now!"
"More like not thinking at all," muttered Evergreen.
Erza shot her a glare before speaking up, "I think we can all agree Gray loves you, Juvia. Just as Natsu loves Lucy, and Gajeel loves Levy." The two girls in question sputtered a bit and turned tomato red.
"And Jellal loves Erza," Evergreen smirked deviously in payback.
Turning the color of her hair, Erza otherwise ignored her, "Our boys just happen to have mischief on their minds instead of matrimony."
"But why! Juvia just wants to be with Gray-sama forever! How could he not want to be with Juvia forever?" she sniffled.
Levy just sighed before leaning her elbows onto the hard surface in front of her. "Boys just assume we're gonna be here waiting for them forever. We're their girls. To them, we've already been claimed by being their girlfriends and exchanging 'I love you's. That's good enough for them."
Hopeless silence met her remark for a few moments until Lisanna finally asked, "Mira-nii, how did you get Laxus to do it?"All the girls perked up at this question, eager to hear the answer.
All the attention on her, Mirajane looked thoughtfully up at the ceiling for a second before answering. "Well..." She paused. "I guess I just finally made it clear to him that if he wanted me to always be standing there waiting for him when he came back from beating himself half-dead, he'd have to make an eternal promise to me that he would come back, no matter what it took. Because my life would be bound to his just as his would be bound to mine."
There was once again silence for a few heartbeats before Lucy and Levy broke out into shrill squeals. The rest of the girls had smiles decorating their faces as Cana thumped Mira on the back in pride.
"You certainly have backbone, I can give you that, " smirked Evergreen. Everyone laughed as the mood lightened considerably.
Suddenly, Lucy stood straight up, effectively cutting off the few lingering chuckles. All eyes were now on the celestial mage as they gave her questioning looks.
"You know what? We have backbone too!" Determination seemed to be written all across her face as she turned to gaze at each girl in turn. "We're the girls of Fairy Tail, and we don't settle for anything less than the best. I'm done dropping hints big enough to bury a dragon; these boys are thicker than Erza's armor when it comes to girls." Snorts and sounds of agreement rose from around her.
Levy chose that moment to interrupt, "Then what do you expect us to do, Lu-chan?"
Lucy just smiled at her best friend before continuing confidently, "I say we make a pact. By Christmas, we will all have gotten our boyfriends to propose, or we break it off with them."
The protests started immediately.
"Why would I want to break up with Elfman?!" Evergreen protested in horror.
"Yeah! Just because they're not getting down on one knee does not mean we want to break up with them!" Levy chimed in.
Lucy's smile didn't waver. "None of us do. But to get the boys to realize we're serious and to get us one hundred percent dedicated, we have to go big or go home!" She shrugged before continuing, "If you don't feel like you're ready, you don't have to do it."
"Good, because I don't think I'm quite to that point yet with Elfman," admitted Evergreen.
"Me either. I feel like Freed and I just barely became a couple..." Lisanna agreed.
"Same with me and Romeo," piped up Wendy.
"You shouldn't be thinking about marriage at your age anyways," scoffed Cana before she shrugged, returning to the topic. "And I'm single so there's no way I can participate."
"As am I," Carla stated. Everyone just rolled their eyes at her open rejection of Happy.
The attention now turned to the three girls who hadn't spoken. Erza had a curious look on her face while Levy just stared uncomfortably into her cup. Juvia seemed ready to burst at any second into tears once more.
It was Erza who finally broke the anticipation, "I guess it really isn't a bad idea. Either way, I think it'll get the boys to open their eyes to what they have."
Lucy cheered in triumph before turning to the final two. "Levy-chan? Juvia?"
Shifting uneasily while avoiding Lucy's shining gaze, she asked the question that had been on her mind, "Do we really only have until Christmas? I mean, it's already the end of September..."
"Well... I guess we can stretch it to New Year's," Lucy said thoughtfully, reaching up to scratch the back of her head. "But, if they don't do it by the end of the holidays, I don't think they ever will. We've already given them over two years."
Levy could only sigh and nod her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she conceded before visibly shaking herself, setting her mouth into a determined smile. "I'm in!"
That was all it took to send Juvia over the edge. She instantly started blubbering and rambling uncontrollably.
"Juvia doesn't want to lose Gray-sama! Juvia is happy just being by his side! Juvia can't live without Gray-sama!"
"That's what marriage is. A promise to forever be by his side, 'Til death do us part,'" Mirajane smiled softly.
The crying stopped as Juvia sucked in a shocked breath. Her eyes went wide as she finally realized what that meant. Hers.
She practically sparkled as she nodded, fist raised to her chest in determination. "Yes! Juvia will do it! Gray-sama will be hers!"
Lucy practically glowed as she high-fived Mirajane. "Okay! The four of us-"
Cana raised her hand to stop the blonde. "Hey, what about us? We're not just going to sit here and look pretty while our nakama fight for their relationships."
"Yeah! I want to help!" Wendy giggled. "It sounds like a lot of fun!"
Lisanna's laugh joined Wendy's, "Romantic scheming? It's a girl's dream!"
"Obviously, they couldn't do it alone before. They're going to need our help. Am I right?" Evergreen raised her eyebrow in challenge at Erza across the table.
Erza just crossed her arms over her armor and nodded. "It would be beneficial to have other people in on it."
Levy nodded along with her, "You're right. All of us together will be unbeatable."
At this point, Lucy couldn't keep the giant smile off her face. "Are we all in?"
Everyone voiced their varying versions of agreement, turning to lock eyes with their closest female friends. Seeing the same sentiments mirrored back at them, they couldn't help but be confident in their success.
Offering her pinky into the middle, Lucy moved to make it official. Immediately, the rest of the girls had their own pinkies wrapped into a tangle of solidarity.
"By New Year's, Levy, Erza, Juvia, and I will all be engaged or so help us, we will immediately and forever be separated from our boyfriends. All others will do everything in their power to help their nakama achieve their goal. This we swear," Lucy invoked
"This we swear," everyone else echoed solemnly.
"Let's get to it!" A cheer rose as the girls set their plan to motion.